


Affirmation (Like Coming Home)

by TentacularLady56



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22504969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TentacularLady56/pseuds/TentacularLady56
Summary: “Come with me? Come with Murray and I?” He smiles at her hopefully, praying that she’ll say yes. He’d grasp at any chance to get to know her better, be around her more, this woman who has saved him.A surly, Russian-speaking American scientist is dragged into the horrifying events of Hawkins, Indiana when she is kidnapped and forced to work with Alexei and his mentor to help finish the keys that would break open the fabric separating our world and that of the Upside Down.A fluffy fix-it for Alexei from Stranger Things. Begins at the Carnival, after the events of episode 7 and briefly covers the events of episode 8.
Relationships: Alexei (Stranger Things)/Original Female Character(s), Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper
Kudos: 12





	Affirmation (Like Coming Home)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, readers! I know I'm late to the bandwagon that is writing a fix-it fanfic which saves our precious Russian angel, Alexei, but a fit of inspiration hit me like a storm at one in the morning, demanding that I get it down and posted. This is my first entry into the world of fanfiction in about ten years and, to be honest, it's not great and it's not particularly edited, but overall I'm not displeased with how it turned out! The italics denote the characters speaking in Russian, as I am not at all comfortable using Google Translate. Let me know what you think!

“ _You should tell her before it’s too late_.” The voice comes from his right, the familiar notes of his mother tongue coming from the strange American man he’s come to know as a friend. He turns to look at Murray questioningly, who jerks his head in the direction of the group of women packing up the station wagon in front of them. Alexei looks at the smaller woman next to Joyce and fingers the scar on his side that rests below his button-up shirt. He frowns and shakes his head.

“ _It would be of no use. She’s already made it clear that she wants nothing to do with me, or anybody for that matter_.” He shrugs and drops his hand from his side. The wound is still tender, despite having closed up entirely, and he wonders if he plays with it as a reminder that he is still alive. Thinking back, he’s still not sure how he managed it.

\--

“ _Look, Murray, it’s not rigged_!” He laughs, clutching the large Woody stuffed animal to his side, grin wide on his face. Murray turns, wielding two corndogs smothered in mustard, and exclaims in congratulations, mimicking the laugh of the character. The woman at his side, who has her arms crossed over her chest, allows a smile to steal across her face. She drops her arms and gives him a double thumbs up. Looking past the two of them, the smile drops from his face when he spots Grigori making his way towards him through the crowd, like a harbinger of doom. He has no time to react, the menacing man is almost upon him. He can only stand there in horror as the hitman subtly brings up a pistol with a silencer attached to it and takes aim.

He’s so intent on the man in front of him, he’s not prepared for the solid weight to slam into his side, knocking him over into the crowd, only vaguely acknowledging the hot burn of pain that slices through his hip. He crashes to the ground, the body that collides into him speeding his momentum. Winded, he looks up into the face of rage, white-hot in dark blue, stormy eyes, which leave his pale face to fiercely stare down the retreating back of his would-be murderer. Katherine turns back to look at him, and then glances down to see that his already brown-stained white shirt is quickly spreading red with his blood. She curses and presses a hand to the wound, leaning back on her haunches and grabbing his hand with her other one to haul him up. He replaces her hand on his hip with his own over the bullet wound, fingers brushing together briefly as they part, an act he would have ruminated on had they been in a different setting and he wasn’t currently bleeding out onto his newly-won stuffed animal.

Murray reaches them and swears, asks him if he's okay, and leads them both to an alley between the carnival game stalls. His female companion makes to slide off her button-up shirt but Murray is way ahead of her, leaning over to press his blue short-sleeve to the slice in his side. Alexei hisses in pain, but keeps the shirt pressed to the wound. He’s being spoken to, and looks up to see both Murray and Katherine shouting questions at him. He can’t seem to hear them over the ringing in his ears, in fact he can’t seem to hear the sounds of the carnival anymore, although it still carries on right outside the alley like someone didn’t just get shot in the middle of the festivities. He shakes his head to try to clear his ears, sweat, both from the July heat and from the pain, sliding down his face. As his head clears, words begin to filter in again

“ _....are you okay?! Can you walk? How deep is the wound?_ ”Katherine, without waiting to hear the answer to the last question, moves his hand away from his side and pulls his shirt from his pants to assess the wound. She seems to sag in relief, and turns to Murray with a smile that’s tinged with stress.

“It’s not too deep. We should be able to stitch it up when we reach a safer place.” She replaces his hand onto the shirt over the wound, telling him with a pressed palm to put pressure on it. He can only stare at her in wonder, can barely feel the deep slice in his side. She’d saved him. Almost died doing so. _How could she be…_

“ _...so stupid!”_ Her head snaps around to stare at him, looking into eyes alight with pain and anger. She gapes at him, not sure why he’s suddenly so mad. At her questioning look, he continues.

“ _What were you thinking, Katerina? That bullet was meant for me and you should have let me take it_.” She looks taken aback, like he’s slapped her, and then her face contorts in rage. He ignores the oncoming storm and continues despite the effort it takes to speak, “ _You could have died, and for what? Some man you just met? A man that no one would miss!_ ” At that, her face falls and tears gather at the corner of her eyes. Her face flushes, which is the last thing he sees before she storms off back towards the car and away from him.

“ _Katerina-_!”

“ _Just so you know, I would miss you._ ” Alexei looks up at Murray from his crouched position, a stern look on the face of a man normally so characteristically smug and confident. He leans down and helps Alexei up, pulling his arm around his shoulders, helping towards where they’d parked the car.

\--

From there, he remembers a silent and icy ride back to Murray’s bunker with Katherine behind the wheel. Murray and the others headed off on their own towards the mall, Alexei deemed too wounded to go on with them. He’d written down Planck's Constant on an old, coffee-stained napkin before they’d left and wished Murray good look and a safe return. Back at the bunker, Katherine patches him up, dousing the wound in alcohol and stitching up the wound as best as she can, while he’d muffled curses around a thick leather belt clenched between his teeth. Then they’d sat, silent, on Murray's couch, waiting impatiently for their friends to return from whatever hell they’d be heading into.

Hours later, Murray’d stumbled in, alone, and given them the rundown about what had happened at the mall: infiltrating the underground laboratory, the closing of the gate with the keys, which took Hopper down with them, the kids’ defeat of the Mind Flayer, and the fiery aftermath when the mall burned down. Alexei silently mourned the loss of the angry man whom, despite the rocky start to their relationship and his near constant gruffness, didn’t deserve the end he’d gotten. Afterwards, they’d all headed to bed, though none of them prepared to get much sleep, and, in the morning, Katherine left to head to the Byer’s home. She’d said nothing to Alexei since the night prior, giving him the cold shoulder up until the very moment she’d left. He’d need to apologize and thank her, that much was for sure. Among other things, deep, personal things that he hadn’t had the time to tell her. He remembered the moment when their hands had brushed the night before, remembered her hands on his skin when she’d been stitching his side closed, and he missed her. It was only then, after all was said and done, after she’d left, that he realized that had been the first few times they’d ever touched in the entire time he’d known her. Yes, he missed her.

\--

A few weeks later, Murray and him hatch out a plan to leave for the North, as the bunker was no longer deemed safe and Alexei was technically a ward of the country. Until they could find a way to have him stay here permanently, they’d lay low somewhere cold and remote. Murray figured Ohio or Colorado, somewhere in the Mountains where it’d be difficult for anyone to find them. Agreed, they packed a few things in two duffels, Alexei borrowing clothes from Murray’s rather odd collection. He promised himself he’d buy new things when they next had the chance after trying on a particularly garish Hawaiian shirt. Before they left, Murray threw a book his way. When he caught it and turned it over, it was an English-to-Russian dictionary and phrase guide. He caught Murray’s smirk when he looked back up at the man and grinned.

When they reached the Byer’s residence, only going at the insistence of Alexei, who’d wanted to leave things between himself and Katherine on a better note, it was to the sight of a large moving van and a group of people carrying boxes and luggage in and out of the front door. They parked and Murray begrudgingly offered their assistance to Johnathon, who gave them a crooked smile and handed Murray a box labeled, “breakable.” Sending Murray a reassuring smile, Alexei headed inside, dodging a cackling Max and Lucas as they rushed past him followed by Dustin, who was yelling at them, something to the effect of, “leave off of my relationship, assholes!”

Alexei, eyebrows raised, turned to continue inside and was stopped by a box to his chest. Peering over the top of the box, arms clenched around the cardboard, was Katherine, who was looking at him with barely concealed annoyance. Neither said anything and, after a minute, she huffed and adjusted the box in her arms, gaining more purchase around the obviously heavy container.

“ _How is your wound healing?_ ” The question left her mouth before she could stop it, and she glanced at the floor, not meeting his eyes. He frowned and stared at her before answering, wishing she would look at him. Smile at him. Anything would have been better than her indifference.

“ _It is...fine. Still smarts a little, but you did an excellent job stitching it up._ ” He continues, unable to help himself, finding that babbling helped to keep his throat from closing up, filled the air with something other than the obvious awkwardness, “ _I spent the last couple of weeks recovering, watching Looney Tunes, trying to keep from tearing open the stitches. Murray ran out a couple of times to grab the two of us Slurpees, which was wonderful, but I wish-_ ”

“ _That’s great. I’m glad that you’re on the mend._ ” She smiles, and his stomach drops at the way it doesn’t reach her eyes, which are still on the floor. She knees the box back up into her arms, and makes to move around him out the door, “ _Excuse me._ ” He lets her go, watching her retreating back until he can’t see her anymore. They spend the next couple of hours dancing around the other and, the few times that they end up in the same vicinity, she doesn’t try to talk to him again. Which is why, when Murray and him stand together at the car after everything is done, the two of them watching the large group say their tearful goodbyes, he doesn’t try again. When he responds to Murray’s advice, the other man scoffs and cuffs him on the shoulder. Alexei turns to him in surprise to find the man giving him an impatient look.

“ _Spare me the dramatics, Alyosha. That woman wanted you, risked her life to save you._ ” Murray turns and stares back out over the mixed group of teenagers, “ _Life is too short, as you well know, and shouldn’t be spent dancing around feelings when you have them._ ” He sighs and gestures towards the station wagon, where Katherine is just putting the last box in. Alexei takes the moment, as she reaches up to close the hatchback, to longingly admire her. “ _If she gets in her car and leaves and we go our separate ways, you will spend the rest of your life regretting it._ ”

Alexei grimaces at him and pushes the glasses that’d slid down his nose back up in place. He wipes the sweat from his forehead and adjusts his clothing, then gives Murray one last glance before he heads over to the Station Wagon and chuckles ruefully.

“ _Thank you, Freud,_ ” he says over his shoulder. Murray calls him something scathing in Russian, but there’s no heat behind it. When Alexei reaches Katherine, he taps her on the shoulder and has to lean back out of the way when she whirls around to face him. He smiles nervously, putting his hands in his pockets, one of which pushes down on the box of cigarettes he’d bought from the general store on the way to the Byer’s. Struck with an idea, he pulls them out and holds the box out to her, a peace offering. He stares hopefully into suspicious eyes.

“ _Can we talk?_ ”

\--

They walk over to the copse of trees to the left of the house, the branches of which offers shade from the cloying August heat. He lights his cigarette, then holds the lighter out for her to light hers. He takes a few drags before he starts talking, allowing the nicotine and the smoke to soothe the nervous energy beginning to fester in his stomach.

“ _I never got to thank you for saving my life back at the carnival._ ” She says nothing when he starts, and he can’t tell if that’s a good or bad sign, so he continues, “ _It happened so fast and I was prepared to die, as I’d been prepared to die since I got to this country. I never expected to be saved from the laboratory, expected to be taken out once I’d fulfilled my purpose and opened the gate._ ” He takes another drag from his cigarette and exhales the smoke into the August air. He looks down at his shoes and scuffs one along the ground.

“ _You and Murray, and, to a certain degree, Rambo and his lady, and the happy atmosphere at the carnival gave me a false sense of security that, when this whole thing had blown over, I’d finally be free to live. I’d move to the United States permanently, as I have nothing at home to go back to, and live as an American_.” He chances a glance over at her. She stands with her cigarette sticking out of the corner of her mouth, just staring ahead of her at the woods. She appears to be listening to him, though, so he counts that as a win. He clears his throat and continues.

“ _Getting to know you in the lab, breaking out with you, talking with you, has made all of this hell bearable_.” He sees her stiffen out of the corner of his eye, “ _When I saw Gregori heading for me, gun in hand, I thought that was it for me. I counted my blessings and considered myself lucky that I at least had a brief moment of respite, of happiness, before an untimely end. Considered myself very lucky that I’d met you, met Murray, and was ready to die a content man._ ” He drops the stub of his cigarette to the dirt and grounds it with the sole of his shoe, then turns to look at her. She drops her gaze to the ground, inhales deeply onto her cigarette, then pulls it away from her face with two fingers and exhales a deep cloud of white. He sees that she’s shaking and tears prick the corners of her eyes. Feeling braver, he grabs her free hand in his and closes his other hand over the back of it. She closes her eyes and grits her teeth, tears leaking from underneath her closed lids. He smiles at her and keeps speaking, knowing that he’s reaching her.

“ _When you pushed me out of the way, there was a brief moment where I thought the bullet would hit you, kill you, take you from me. It made me so angry, that you could give your life for a man you knew was a liability, a man that you knew was condemned.”_ He grips her hand harder, then brings it to his lips to drop a kiss onto her skin. A sob wracks her body, and she turns her head from him, her hair falling over her shoulder to curtain her face. He won’t have any of that, have her hiding from him. He drops her hand and grips her by the shoulders, forcing her to face him. Her eyes are red, and she cries in earnest. Despite this, he can’t stop smiling. She pushes one of his hands away, bringing up an arm to scrub at her eyes and her nose, which has started to run much to her continued embarrassment. She clears her throat and looks up at him in short glances, unable to look him in the eyes for long.

“God dammit, this is frustrating! I’m a god damn strong woman!” She laughs ruefully. “ _I’m sorry. I can’t seem to stop crying when I’m around you. You make me feel so many things, things I haven’t felt for a long time. Fear, anger, pain, but also so many other good things. So many happy things._ ” She sends him a watery grin and sniffles. “ _If you aren’t careful, I may just fall in love with you, you ridiculous man._ ” He understands, because he is half in love with her already, maybe more. She glares at him then and points a finger in his face, " _You are worth it, no matter what crazy thoughts go through your head. Of course I'd try to save you!"_ Emboldened by her declaration, he reaches down and grips both of her hands in his and looks into her eyes.

“ _Come with me? Come with Murray and I?_ ” He smiles at her hopefully, praying that she’ll say yes. He’d grasp at any chance to get to know her better, be around her more, this woman who has saved him. “ _He says we need to lay low for awhile, head North, until we figure out how to get me situated in the country. Please say you’ll come?_ ” She huffs in amusement and glances up at him forlornly, shaking her head.

“ _I can’t,_ ” His face falls, and she grips his hands tighter, “ _at least not yet. I can’t just uproot, I have to prepare. I have to tie up loose ends before I can leave._ ” He glances up at her, hopeful expression returning. Her smile widens and she brings his hands up to wrap around her shoulders, hers fall to his waist. “ _When you and Murray are settled, and he feels safe enough to disclose your location, drop me a line._ ” He looks confused by the expression, so she amends, “a _n American expression. Let me know where you’ll be and I’ll finish up what I have to do here, head your way._ ” He looks elated and bends forward to kiss her, something he’s been waiting to do for longer than he’d care to admit. A finger to his lips stops him and he glances up at her. She wears a sly smile and smooths a hand up his cheek to tangle fingers in his curly hair. “ _I never did get that ‘thank you’._ ”

Grinning, he tightens his grip on her waist, pulling her closer to him, and presses his forehead to hers. He looks into her eyes and breathes a, “ _thank you,_ ” onto her lips, before sealing his to them. She laughs into his mouth and reciprocates and he has never felt more like he belonged here, with her, than in this moment.

\--

A couple of months pass and Murray and him are finally settled into a remote cabin far in the middle of nowhere Colorado. They’d bought it off of a man who, if possible, was even more suspicious of the world’s machinations and government conspiracies than Murray, and who never stayed in more than one place for long. He’d been on his way out to head even further up North into Canada, and had practically shoved the keys into Murray’s hands. It’d taken Alexei running after him and handing him several bills to realize he’d not taken payment from them for the house. The man had taken the money, mumbling something under his breath about, “commie bastards and their suspicious ways,” and gotten into his car.

In between fortifying the place to Murray’s specifications, which were strict, he’d begun Alexei’s integration into an American citizen, hoping to have him take the test within the year to receive a visa. He’d started with teaching him basic English, then started implementing societal expectations and pop culture, about which, as a recluse, he had bare-minimum knowledge about, and the American government, of which he knew at length. The weather when they’d gotten there had been mild, cooler than that of Indiana, but, as the days bled into Fall, then into winter, the air grew dramatically colder and snow became something of a regularity, with a storm hitting every week or so. Of course, coming from Russia, Alexei was familiar with severe cold and blankets of white as far as the eye could see.

No one knew them here, and, as far as he knew, no one was coming after him, so when they needed to go out for supplies, Alexei took the car and his rudimentary grasp of English and went into town to stock up. Murray, always concerned about when the phone rang or who could end up coming to their cabin, never strayed further out then the back patio and was happy to let Alexei go in his stead.

Frustratingly, it took the overly suspicious man nearly four months to give the okay to reveal their location to Katherine. The first time he’d heard her voice over the phone, after dialing the number she’d given him before they left for the mountains, Alexei had nearly cried. She’d seemed relieved to know that the two of them were okay, that they’d settled in, and didn’t let slip how worried she’d been that she hadn’t heard from them, afraid something bad had happened. She told him that she’d found a potential buyer for her house in Indiana, and that she’d spent the last couple of months training her replacement at the local laboratory. Alexei gave her the location of the house, in coordinates much to her amusement, and she promised him she’d be there in a few weeks. He sat the phone down on the receiver and ignored the smug look that Murray, who was sitting next to him on the couch, was giving him.

\--

He was outside chopping wood on the side of the house when he heard the car pull up in the front. He drove the axe he held into the chopping block and made his way around the cabin. She was sitting in the car still, mitten-ed hands clutching the wheel, and staring intently at the house. She hadn’t noticed him yet, so he took a moment to take her in. The hair tumbling out from the knitted cap on her head was longer and she looked just a little more harried, more tired than when he’d last seen her. She was no less beautiful, however, and his heart seemed a little fuller the longer he looked at her. Feeling a little creepy to just be standing there staring, he made his way towards the car. She noticed him coming and broke into a wide smile.

In her haste to get out of the car, she nearly fell out of it into the snow and had to grip the door for purchase. Giggling nervously, she righted herself, and crunched booted feet into the white powder as she stood to greet him. When he reached her, he stopped just by the door and stared into her face, drinking her in. Never one to hesitate, she reached out and leapt into his arms, throwing hers around his shoulders. She perched her chin over his shoulder, nose in his substantial curls, and breathed in his scent.

“ _Hello_ ,” she whispered into his ear and felt him shiver through his thick coat. He tightened his grip on her and buried his face further into her hair. He’d waited a long time to feel at home in this country, after being torn from his own, but never had he imagined he’d find it in someone like her. Someone who seemed to accept him for who he was, for all that he’d done. He reaffirmed to himself that he would never let her go again. When she made to break away from him, he made a noise of protest, and she laughed, pushing at his chest lightly.

“ _I have something for you_ ,” She said with a sly smile. He raised his eyebrows and looked at her expectantly. She turned back towards the car and leaned into it to grab something from the center console.

“ _I know it’s cold_ ,” she began, slightly muffled from inside the car, but she came back into view, brandishing a Styrofoam cup full to the top with red-colored slush, “ _but I figured that you’d appreciate this._ ” She held the cup out to him and raised a single eyebrow. Speechless, he gaped at her.

“ _I love you_ ,” he breathed, and her smile widened.

Yes, he was definitely never letting her go.


End file.
